Link up with free or cheap certification help

Transcription

1 Link up with free or cheap certification help If you re thinking about certification or sweating it out studying for your first test, this list of links will help you prepare for the exams. This list is not meant to be comprehensive or even to contain the top10 certification preparation sites. What you will find here is a group of Web sites that offers affordable certification help. Some information is free, some information costs between $10 and $50. Selftestsoftware.com ( has a lot of great practice tests for sale, but who wants to pay upwards of $100 to practice when you ve already spent a chunk of change on the cert class itself? Some sites listed here do have a lot of software for sale, but they also offer demo copies of the software that you can download and try out. These shorter tests will let you sample the format of the for-a-fee exams and test your skills to see how much studying you still need to do. After completing the sample test, you can decide from there if you want to shell out the money for the complete tests. You should also use this list to link you to other test takers. There is a huge community of certification students on the Web who communicate through bulletin boards, forums, and study groups. These connections to people going through the same test stress can be as valuable as practice tests. If you are an instructor trying to help students with certification preparation, this list will expand your Web resources beyond cramsession.com ( All of the sites mentioned below have links to lots of information not included on their own pages. You could study for years if you followed all the links that these pages have to offer. One technical note: We have tried to make sure that all the links in this document fit on one line. However, if they do break over onto two lines, you may need to copy and paste the link into your browser to get it to work. Also, while we have checked and double-checked these links, they may change or move over time. If you find a bad link, let us know and we ll fix it (mailto:training@techrepublic.com?subject=bad%20cert%20test%20link). In the meantime, happy studying! This document is provided for informational purposes only and TechRepublic makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, in this document. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The entire risk of the use or the results of the use of this document remains with the user. The example companies, organizations, products, people and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, person or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of TechRepublic. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. 1

2 About.com ( This site, which features discussions on a huge variety of topics led by guides, has a lot of information on Windows. In the computing/technology section, there is a subcategory, Focus on Windows 2000/NT, and within that category there is a section on training and certification. About Windows 2000 NT: Training and Certification ( This page has a huge list of links and information. The main categories are: General Practice exams Training and curriculum providers Articles and general info Microsoft online seminars CCPrep.com ( CCPrep.com is an independent company that helps students prepare for certifications. Membership is free and includes: Radio CCIE, a radio broadcast that allows listeners to call in and ask questions of some of the industry's experts. Archive shows are available Related links Author interviews Industry magazines News articles White papers Downloads CertificationZone.com ( This is an independent study area for Cisco certifications. This area features study guides and simulated exams that cover Cisco's CCIE and CCNA certifications. Sample test ( This page has a demo exam available to download that presents a sampling of the questions on the full version certification exams sold on this site. There are 10 questions, and a passing score is 70 percent. The test taker has 15 minutes to complete the test. Cisco Cert Solutions ( This independent site offers membership in the Cisco Certified Web site for 12 months for $69. Membership includes: A study guide that covers the CCNA exam Online practice quizzes or full tests that grade your performance instantly Step-by-step lab exercises The open forum where you can talk to other members and post questions 2

3 CompTIA ( CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, is a 17-year-old association representing over 7,500 computer hardware and software manufacturers, distributors, retailers, resellers, VARs, system integrators, and training, service, telecommunications, and Internet companies. In addition to providing a unified voice for the industry in the areas of public policy, workforce development, and electronic commerce standards, CompTIA certifies information technology and service professionals with its widely adopted and vendor-neutral certification programs. Certification information ( This page lists the certification programs CompTIA offers and links to explanations of each certification. CompTIA offers certification in these areas: A+ Network+ Server+ CDIA+ i-net+ Practice tests and CBTs These pages list self-study resources for computer-based training and practice tests. For some of the certification, there are over 50 different companies listed from all over the country. A+ training resources ( CDIA ( Network+ training resources ( Exam Essentials by Certify.com ( This site features Exam Essentials self-test software for anyone taking the CNE, CNA, MCP, MCSE, A+, and Network+ exams. Exam Essentials is a free download that includes all the practice exams that we currently offer. You get more than 30 practice exams, each with free questions that you can try right away. Sample test ( Downloading Exam Essentials will give you free questions per exam. Registering to take an exam will give you between questions per exam. You have to download and install Exam Essentials and the Multimedia Extensions file to run the test modules. HP.com s IT Resource Center ( HP.com has a short list of training and education topics on its site. Each topic has information on online seminars, self-paced Web based training, and classroom courses offered by HP. You have to pay for all of these items, but the pages also include information on books, white papers, and a link library. HP s topics include: HP-UX Linux Microsoft OpenView MPE/iX jguru (Java Developers) Printing & Imaging Help Desk 3

4 E-services Learnlots.com ( Learnlots.com provides tutorials on a variety of technical subjects that can be viewed through a browser or downloaded to a Palm, Visor, or Rocket ebook. The technical depth of these tutorials varies and probably won t be much help to the advanced user, but the site is worth browsing. The tutorials are grouped in six areas: 1) On the Web 2) Handheld computing 3) MP3s and digital multimedia 4) Linux 5) Software applications 6) Hardware and operating systems Software tutorials ( The topics covered in the software list include: Office 2000 Basics Word 2000 Excel 2000 Outlook 2000 Office 97 Office 2000 Projects Access 2000 QuickBooks 2000 Quattro Pro Digital Imaging Microsoft Works Suite 2000 Corel Wordperfect 9 Quicken Deluxe 2000 FrontPage 2000 Corel Presentations 9 Microsoft Works Projects Macromedia Flash Photoshop 5.5 Adobe Illustrator Lotus Notes Microsoft Project Microsoft NetMeeting Basic Framemaker QuarkXPress Macromedia Dreamweaver WinZip 7.0 Macromedia Director 8 Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 Microsoft PictureIt! 2000 Adobe PageMaker 6.5 Lotus Notes Basics Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Adobe After Effects 4.0 PcAnyWhere 9.0 Lotus Notes Advanced 4

5 Linux ( The topics covered in the Linux list are: Intro to Linux Caldera Open Linux K Desktop Environment Red Hat Linux 6 and 6.1 StarOffice Corel Linux OS GIMP Linux Small Business Server PostgreSQL Linux VI Linux Multimedia Networking Basics Yellow Dog Linux Linux FTP Server Apache Linux Server WinLinux 2000 Small Office Networking Linux Mandrake DNS Linux Hardware ( The topics covered in the hardware and operating system list include: Windows 98 Computer Basics imac ibook Windows 2000 Professional Expand and Upgrade Your PC Computer Maintenance Troubleshooting Peer Networks Resource Management Troubleshooting PC Hardware Mac OS 9 UNIX WindowsCE 2.11 Cable Modems Windows NT Workstation 4.0 5

6 MC MCSE ( MC MCSE provides extensive certification information and prep materials for free. It is affiliated with TechTutorials.com, which is also described on this site. It covers these certifications: MCSE: Win 2000 MCSE: NT 4.0 CompTIA: A+ CompTIA: Network+ Cisco The certification topics are listed in the left navigation bar. The page for each type of certification is set up differently, but they all include information on: Track Information Study Notes Find a Book Links Articles and FAQs MCSETutor.com ( This site is designed to help people who are studying on their own for Microsoft and Cisco exams. It offers: Free testing clinics Book reviews Discussion boards Links FreeTests ( This page contains links to dozens of free MCSE practice exams on the Internet. The following tests are listed on the left navigation bar of this site: Networking Essentials NT Workstation NT Server NT Server in the Enterprise TCP/IP IIS 4.0 Windows 95 Network+ Cisco Other Exams Softpanorama: Open Source Software Educational Society ( Softpanorama (which the site defines as slightly skeptical ) offers computer science-related content for schools and universities all over the globe. This site offers: News Recommended links Papers Information on UNIX certifications An overview of Linux certification programs A short list of Web-based tests 6

7 Syngress.com ( Syngress Media, Inc. is an independent company that produces books, software, and Internet-based exam preparation tools for the IT professional. Thy have published over 55 certification study guides and professional references. Their site offers IT books and certification software that cover: Cisco Windows 2000/Windows NT Linux CompTIA Programming General Networking Test demo ( This page represents the free aspect of the site and has a list of demo tests you can download. These demos, called Personal Testing Centers, are Explorer applications that combine exam simulation, reference material, and skills assessment. All of the questions come from Syngress study guides, which include Windows 2000 Server System Administration Handbook and Configuring Windows 2000 Server Security. The questions have been prepared by MCSEs, MCSDs, CCIEs, and/or A+ Certified Technicians and reviewed by Certified Trainers for accuracy and realism. The testing centers cover: Cicso Comptia MCSE MCSD A+ MCDBA 4tests.com ( This site includes IT exams as well as high school and college standardized tests. Here is a list of the free NT and Sun exams it offers: Microsoft Designing Web Pages with FrontPage 98 Visual InterDev Developing Desktop Applications using Visual Basic 6.0 Developing Distributed Applications Using Visual Basic 6.0 Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows 98 Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Implementing and Supporting Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Networking Essentials TCP/IP Sun-Certified Java Programmer Downloads ( 4tests.com s download page also has some helpful information: MSPrep Exam: Microsoft's official practice exams Audio Whiz Sample Questions: NT and Novell sample questions online Transcender FlashDemo: An application containing eight practice exams Transcender CertDemo: An application containing three practice exams Visual Basic 5.0 Certification Exam Boson Cisco Tests v2.1 7

8 Links ( Links on this page include: TechResults Certify Express ucertify.com MCSEGuide AudioWhiz Online Training Novell's Certification Page Sylvan Prometric's Web site Career.com Transcender Corp BrainDump Heaven ExamNotes TechTutorials.com ( TechTutorials.com is a huge resource for free materials. This site has links to almost 1,000 free tutorials on the web as well as offering a few of their own study materials. The site says, TechTutorials is the Internet's only search engine solely dedicated to providing links that point directly to the free tutorials and whitepapers across a broad spectrum of computer related topics. DOS Hardware Linux Macintosh Networking Novell OS2 PDA Programming UNIX Webmaster Windows 2000 Windows 9x Windows NT TechTutorials.com also offers its own training materials: Printing Guide Introduction to UNIX UNIX Help Using VI editor Appletalk Tutorial Configuring GSNW 8

9 Test.com ( At Test.com, some tests are free, but some require credits. To take these tests, you must create an account and purchase credits. Credits are worth $.10 each, and you have to buy a minimum of $10 in credits. Most tests, such as those covering UNIX and NT, are 10 credits each. You also can create your own test. Most of these are frivolous, Star Trek how die hard are you? and Pokemon Test, but there are certification applications for this tool. Practice tests ( Test.com offers tests on these programming languages: AIX C C++ COBOL General Programmer Tests Java Miscellaneous Networking and MIS Oracle 7 Perl Software Engineering SQL UNIX Visual Basic Windows Windows NT TESTFREE.com ( Parts of this site are free but you have to pay a membership fee to get access to certain areas. The subscription fee for the members area is $19.95 for one month or $39.95 for one year and gives you access to over 1,000 tough questions including adaptive mode exams. TESTFREE.com exams cover MCSE, CNE and A+ tests. You can take every exam we have as many times as you like with membership. Free exams ( These are the free exams that they offer: Exam : Microsoft Windows 2000 Accelerated Exam for MCPs Certified on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 NetWare 5 Advanced Admin (Course 570) NetWare 5 Administration (Course 560) NDS Design and Implementation (Course 575) Novell Netware Service and Support (Course 580) Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 GroupWise 5 Administration (Course 350) A+ Core Service Technician A+ Windows / DOS Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 in the Enterprise Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 NetWare 4.11 to NetWare 5 Update (Course 529) Managing Netscape Enterprise Server for NetWare (Course 956) 9

10 Microsoft Networking Essentials Implementing and Supporting MS Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Microsoft TCP/IP Securing Intranets with BorderManager (Course 770) Implementing and Supporting Windows 95 Novell Networking Technologies (Course 565) NetWare 4.11 Administration (Course 520) Windows NT Systems: NT Certification ( This page is from the archives of Windows NT Systems, the magazine for Windows NT systems management and administration. The page has a list of articles on how to pass a variety of Microsoft exams going back to Certification article archive ( This link to an article on how to pass the TCP/IP exam is a sample of the archived articles. 10